WHERE ARE WE FROM?
It is common for an American to ask “What are you?” Of course this means “what ethnicity are you?”, or more correctly, “where are you from?”

The answer to the question varies by lineage. However, in general the answer is very simple. We are 5 parts British and three parts German. “British” is said in the full sense of the meaning of the word “British”. We have ancestors from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England and also Canada when that country was still very much a part of the British Empire.

Source of our Lineages

Lineage

Source

Comment

Black

British

The Blacks were originally from Ireland. Matthew Black crossed over to Glasgow Scotland around 1860. His grandson Charles, my grandfather, came from Scotland to Chicago, Illinois in the United States in 1923.

Cunningham

British

The Cunningham’s lived in Wigtonshire, a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland. They eventually moved to Glasgow.

Becker

German

The Becker’s emigrated from Germany to Chicago around 1860.

Polkow

German

The Polkow’s emigrated from Germany to Chicago in 1866.

Hyde

British

The Hyde’s can be traced back to Quebec Canada in the 1860s. They emigrated to Canada from England and Ireland. Charles Hyde came to Detroit Michigan in the United States in 1874.

Rinke

German

The Rinkes lived in what was then Prussia in Germany, but is now part of Poland. Christoph Rinke came to Detroit, Michigan in the United States in 1861.

Butt

British

The Butts lived in Dorset in south central England; Joseph Butt went to Ontario, Canada in 1841. Charles Butt came to Detroit, Michigan in the United States half a century later, in 1890.

Other families in this line include the Van Stones who were also from England and then Canada, and the Walters who started in Wales and eventually moved to England and the United States.

Parke

British?

The Parke’s have been traced back to New York where William Parke was born in 1815. The name Parke is British in origin so it is very likely that they were originally British. The Parke’s moved from New York to Valparaiso, Indiana and eventually to Chicago, Illinois.